Reading the story quickly, it’s easy to come away with the conclusion that the negative trend is because of the government’s austerity policies. It ignores that some local authorities have been more effective than other in introducing effective cost reductions, rather than cuts to quality and service.

There is also room for concern about the concistency of quality of service from care workers. There’s a worrying public sector trend of laying off the most experienced staff who also happen to be the most expensive. Government bean-counters will look to the cost per employee but are oblivious to the quality of the deliverable.

Then there’s context. Why have the numbers deteriorated? Is it to do with the lifestyles of their parents and guardians?

Expenses seems to be a vulnerable soft side with MPs. Clearly, with the number of expenses scandels in recent years, the expenses watchdog must treat this demand seriously. If the Labour MPs have found some real ‘dirt’, they may be able to soften the Brexit blow. At the moment, despite all the froth in the Summer months, the hard Brexiteers seem to be on a roll.